All change

Not done much for a couple of weeks now following my so close but, yet again, so far away session on The Armoured Car Traverse. If it's not work getting in the way, it is social stuff or the weather putting the brake on stuff - last week we had damp, dreary conditions and they are much the same this time around albeit a bit more frozen.

Anyway it was supposed to have been the rearranged Boys Bouldering Trip this weekend but the white stuff put paid to any thoughts of heading north for my maiden trip to The County so the new plan was to go to Burbage to meet up with the boys instead. It was a pleasant enough day there - Baltic conditions reigned and a lot of stuff was either wet or covered in snow but the odd problem remained in OK nick which was more than could be said for me. I think hungover would be the word I am looking for. After watching various automotive punters making a complete mess of trying to get up the hill past Burbage Bridge we met up at Banana Finger. I have known about this problem for years but Saturday was was the first time I had ever looked at the problem let alone pulled on. Having got the greetings out of the way I squeaked the boots and after a couple of abortive attempts to size up the hangover versus physical effort problems found I could make the reach over to the first break with the pebble easily enough but was really struggling to get my feet in a position to match it. A few more goes came and went and then the SYKE was gone - it was just too cold, I was too hungover and just plain weak and so I have another project at Burbage to contend with.

Wandered about for a while and did a bit of spotting and the like and decided to risk a wander down to the Armoured Car on the off chance that it was good to go - of course it wasn't but we cleaned the holds off and Dear Boy had a couple of attempts at it but the remaining snow was just melting as soon as you touched it.

By this point it had got to late afternoon so we decided that we had done enough for the day and went to the pub to try and subjugate our collective hangovers. Can't speak for anyone else but it failed miserably on my account...

Pity the fool

It might well be for charity and all that but some things just shouldn't be encouraged...

Rewind Selector

Managed to get out last Friday for a quick session at Burbage South and another attempt at the Armoured Car Traverse - conditions were cool and very breezy but thankfully warmer than the flat I had retreated from - go figure!!

Started on what seem to have become the new warm up problems on the Brick boulder - conditions on anything that had been in the wind were pretty damned good but stuff that had been sheltered was not so good. They weren't bad as such - just not as good. Other than that it seemed like business as usual - problems got done and feeling ready for the task ahead it was a quick stomp through the bracken to the Armoured Car.

First go went OK until I cocked up the crux sequence but second go I matched my previous best and got the crimp for the right hand which was great for all of a brief nano-second till I realised that the crimp was a greasy slimefest. Back on the mat! Still it was encouraging as conditions had been nowhere near as good as the last time I had been out - then you could use the top of the boulder pretty much as you pleased - now it turned into a desperate search for those subtle slopers to try and attain success. So following a quick brush of the greasy crimp it was back to it again but it soon became obvious that this was a race against conditions as the odd spot of rain fell and the temperature steadily rose. Managed to get back to the crimp once more but greased off again and then the race was effectively over as the rain started to fall with more persistence. I huddled in the shelter of the traverse and rolled a cigarette while looking at the clouds trying to convince myself that the ones headed in my direction were not as full of rain as they obviously were. That worked for maybe five minutes but even the most sanguine person struggles in the face of a good soaking and with that it was decided to get back to the van before the rain set in properly.

Do I need to add that I was rather damp by the time I got back? Probably not...

It's all a bit meh!

Backtrack two days and Skippy was keen to do some stuff on a bit of string at The Edge. I say keen but the truth of the matter was he simply mentioned it and then let my over excitable brain provide the necessary SYKE to do the rest really. Anyway enough about my random psychology and onto tales of power and pulling hard on big lumps of brightly coloured plastic. What-ho!

It has been ages since I have climbed indoors and while it was OK in a pulling hard on big lumps of brightly coloured plastic sort of way there is also something just a little bit masochistic about it all as well. You are crammed into an area that is too small and which contains too many people whose primary aims would appear to be getting in the way and occasionally climbing. Add to that, when you are climbing, there is often little in the way of route finding to do - all too often it is just a matter of briefly studying the next bright piece of plastic and then making the move, clip and repeat. Oh and it's too bloody hot and while this is offset to a degree by the eye candy it really doesn't outweigh the negatives. Jeez, I seem to have become a grumpy old man overnight - maybe I should get one of these bad boys!


Anyway enough grizzling - routes wise I didn't exactly push the boat out but I felt that I climbed OK - my clipping was a bit woeful but other than that I felt smooth and no real wobbles to speak of so that was pleasing. Also it seems like the required stamina is there or thereabouts again though the real test will come with progression onto a few harder routes which will highlight any weaknesses a bit more. As it was I ticked off something like a 5 to warm up (on top rope) and then did a 5, 5+, 5+ and a 6a+ all clean on lead. The 6a+ was a pretty good route actually as it had a series of tufas to negotiate and made you really work your feet and while I wouldn't have argued with 6a for it I quite happily took (soft) 6a+ for the quick ego boost.

Ego sufficiently boosted I then got on another 6a+ which proved to be a little bit more tricky - this one proved interest by the bucket load as it featured the arête and holds on both sides - really technical and a complete bitch of a crux that I failed to negotiate. I hung in for a while trying to figure out a workable sequence to get past the hard section but nothing really seemed to work so, in lieu of that, I debated about throwing a lot of power at it. That seemed even less likely to work so with the pump in my arms building rapidly, I slumped onto the rope reasoning I would much rather have some sort of crux sequence where falling off was less of a likelihood - gaylord! Eventually I cobbled something together that got me through it but I feel pretty sure that I am missing something as it felt all wrong compared to the rest of the route - something to go back to next Wednesday then. Finished off with a 5 on the 18 degree board and that was the end of that - the SYKE had been extinguished.

Popped into the Sheaf on the way back for a well deserved pint of carbs in a glass and found lots of Police milling about looking at this. Oops!